MY VIEW
Games: 'Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction'

By Jeremy Castillo
Special to The Advertiser

The Verdict: THE RATINGS 5 — Outstanding: Add it to your collection now. A must-have. 4 — Great: Buy it or rent it — definitely play it. 3 — Good: Worth playing despite some flaws. 2 — Fair: Unless you're a fan of the license or series, don't bother. 1 — Poor: You'd have more fun playing Pong.

Console: Playstation 2 (Also out for Xbox)

Developer/Publisher: Pandemic Studios/LucasArts

Genre: Action

Number of players: 1 player

ESRB: Teen

Premise: North Korean dictator Choi Song came into power by staging a coup against his own father during peace negotiations and obtaining nuclear weapons able to destroy targets on any continent. You are hired by the allied nations to help extract Song from command as well as the "Deck of 52," the list of the A.N.'s most wanted criminals, represented by playing cards. (Hmm ... sound familiar?)

Game play: Before its release, this game had a reputation of being a "Grand Theft Auto"-like game with a military story. It lives up to that reputation very well. Missions consist of driving to different bases and collecting contracts from various bosses with their best interests in mind, including a Chinese general and the leader of the Russian mafia. Some contracts include bonus missions that can only be completed before the main task, with no extra chances afterward; others require tasks which lower your status with another group, possibly forcing you to pay a bribe to get back in their good graces. Once enough money is collected you can go to the Merchant of Menace, an operator in the black market, to purchase services and supplies essential to completing missions later in the game. Besides contracts and bounties, there are several ways to make money, such as performing side challenges, finding bonus items such as Chinese national treasures and weapons of mass destruction (can't live without hearing that term nowadays) and selling vehicles to the mafia's chop shop.

The Good/bad: At times, the game can be sort of illogical. For example, if you are in low standing with a faction, those soldiers will be indicated as enemies and that may cause you to kill them and further lower your standings. On the plus side, you can replay side challenges to beat your own score. Chance run-ins with North Koreans always start gun fights, adding randomness into the game.

Tips: Collateral damage can be the most costly thing to your bounty collection and reputation, so avoid it as much as you can. Also, keep in mind that when you are disguised as a member of a group, your disguise will not fool military officers.

My take: Despite having borrowed heavily from the GTA games for the PS2 (even right down to the inconveniently-sized map in the corner of the screen), Pandemic did a good job of putting their own brand of gaming into "Mercenaries," thus putting out a fun game with an engaging story.

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College. Have a game or CD you want to review? Reach Island Life deputy editor Dave Dondoneau at ddondoneau@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Upcoming video game releases
Dates are tentative

PLAYSTATION 2

• Jan. 25: "Playboy: The Mansion"
• Feb. 1: "Sega Hits Phantasy Star Trilogy"; "World Soccer Winning Eleven 8"
• Feb. 2: "Champions: Return to Arms"
• Feb. 8: "Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death"; "Winnie the Pooh: Rumbly Tumbly Adventures"; "Death by Degrees"; "Shadow of Rome"; "NBA Street V3"
• Feb. 14: "Constantine"
• Feb. 15: "Ford Mustang 40th Anniv."; "Classified: The Sentinel Crisis"; "Sega Classics Collection; King of Fighter"; "Nano Breaker"; "Xenosaga II"; "Tenchu: Fatal Shadows"; "Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga"
• Feb. 19: "Wild Arms: Alter Code F"
• Feb. 22: "Project Snowblind"; "Tekken 5"; "Phantom Crash 2050"; "YS: Ark of Napishtim"; "Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30"; "Kessen III"

XBOX

• Jan. 25: "Playboy: The Mansion with Bonus!"; "Oddworld Stranger's Wrath"
• Feb. 1: "Scrapland"; "World Soccer Winning Eleven 8"
• Feb. 8: "Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death"; "NBA Street V3"
• Feb. 14: "Constantine"
• Feb. 15: "Ford Mustang 40th Anniv. Edition" "Top Gear RPM Tuning"; "Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics"; "Chicago Enforcer"
• Feb. 22: "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection"; "Robots"; "Project Snowblind"; "Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30"

GAMEBOY ADVANCE

• Jan. 27: "Racing Gears Advance"
• Feb. 1: "A Sound of Thunder"; "Crushed Baseball; Blade Thunder"; "Shaman King: Legacy Of The Spirits, Soaring Hawk"; "Shaman King: Legacy Of The Spirits, Sprinting Wolf"
• Feb. 14: "Ice Nine"
• Feb. 15: "Yu-Gi-Oh! "7 Trials To Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005;" "Ace Combat Advance"
• Feb. 22: "Super Army War"; "Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament"; "Robots"

GAMECUBE

• Feb. 8: "Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death"; "NBA Street V3"
• Feb. 14: "Star Fox: Assault"
• Feb. 22: "Robots"

List provided by Toys n' Joys, with shops in Kaimuki (735-4546) and the Westridge Shopping Center (487-8697) in Pearlridge. See www.toysnjoys.com.